Locsin to media on protest vs. China: ‘I speak only to the Army’

Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro L. Locsin, Jr. on Thursday preferred not to reveal to the media details of a diplomatic protest over the unauthorized passage of Chinese warships through Philippine waters.

"It was fired off, that's it. At the moment, that's all I can say," he told reporters.

Interviewed at the sidelines of the opening ceremony of the 7th Biennial Conference of the Asian Society of International Law in Quezon City, Locsin said he would only speak to the Philippine Army on such a matter. 

"You know how I feel about speaking to the civilian media. I speak only to the Army,” he said.

“I already described my foreign policy as the fist and the iron glove of the of the Armed Forces, so we work hand-in-hand with the military," he added.

Earlier on Twitter, Locsin announced an order for another filing of a diplomatic protest over the repeated incursions.

"Fire diplomatic protest over Chinese warship; drop the diplomatic crap; say it is ours period; they're trespassing," he said in a tweet to Department of Foreign Affairs' Office of Asia and Pacific Affairs.

This was after Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said the repeated passage of the warships without informing Philippine authorities have become an “irritant.”

Trip to China

President Rodrigo Duterte recently said he would rather cancel his upcoming bilateral talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping if he would be prevented from raising the arbitration ruling that in 2016 upheld the country's claims in the West Philippine Sea.

When Locsin was asked the next day if the President would be pushing through with his trip, the secretary said: "I don't see why not."

When pressed further regarding the President's agenda, Locsin answered "We're working on that now, actually." —LDF, GMA News